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Welcome to my Polish blog! My Polish great grandpa was orphaned during the Chicago flu epidemic of 1918 & spent his life looking for all of his siblings. Some family stayed in Chicago & some returned to Poland. Some family was Catholic, & some are believed to be Jewish. I post the things I learn in efforts it may help someone else in their research. I also hope this blog helps me connect with others that know about the people I'm learning about. Digital images of records or links are put inside most postings so you can view records full screen. I encourage comments. Feel free to sign the guestbook, stating who you're looking for. Maybe we can all help each other out this way, because there are many challenges with Polish research. I hope you enjoy learning with me. And I hope to be taught more about my Polish heritage.I have added a few languages to this blog through Google translate. I hope that it may be accurate enough with the communication of ideas. Thanks! -Julie

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03 July 2011

Marianna Klosak and Jozef Wojtas

I finally found Marianna Klosak Wojtas on the Census! I found it by the "fuzzy searches" on familysearch.org. That search engine looks up possible close spellings, unless you tell it to do exact searches. It is better than soundex searching. There was an Anna Wojlasz that came up on my search results, and she was the right age. It looks like the Census taker forgot to cross the "t" in Wojtas, and that the surname is really Wojtasz.
I had: Jozef born 1887, Marianna born 1892, Anna born 1910, Julianna born 1911, Rosa born 1913, and Caroline born 1915. Jozef and Marianna were born in Poland and immigrated. The children were all born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The 1920 Census has: Joseph born 1887, Mary born 1892, Anna born 1910, Julia born 1912, Rosa born 1914, and Clara born 1916. This 1920 Census was in Rusk, Wisconsin, east of Minneapolis.

Marianna Klosak and Jozef Wojtas lived mostly in the Minneapolis area. Here is a timeline, of the dates I know about:

1910 Jozef and Marianna were married in Minneapolis

1910 child Anna Wojtas was born in Minneapolis

1911 (Feb) Marianna traveled with Bronislawa Sanetra, stating on Ellis Island records she was traveleing to Minneapolis where her husband Jozef Wojtas lived

1923 Marianna dies of TB, address on death certificate: 813 Marshall St.

1964 Jozef Wojtas died, said he was widowed, his spouse was Mary. Address: 15 Growland Terrace, Minneapolis, MN. He is in the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) so he most likely became a citizen.

There was also a John Wojtas, married to a Maryanna Sandak 20 Jan 1913. They lived at 635 Marshall St, while Jozef Wojtas lived at 813 Marshall St. John worked at the same Paper Mill as Jozef, as stated on John's WWI draft card. I do not know yet whether John and Jozef were related. John and Marianna Wojtas had at least Anna, Stella, Joseph and Robert Wojtas. John died in 1939. The lived their lives in America in Minneapolis. On the WWI draft registration card, it said Jozef's dependants were a wife and 4 children, which would be wife Marianna, and children: Anna, Julia, Rosa and Caroline. Which tells me that Bronislawa Sanetra was not living with the Wojtas family in 1917, or the 1920 Census. Marianna Klosak Wojtas is still the last person I know of, to have seen Bronislawa Sanetra. It is surprising to me that Marianna went to Poland, leaving behind a young baby, and while expecting another baby. I assumed traveling was very expensive and not a lot of going back and forth for young married women with young children. Even though the passage there and back could be done in under a month, it is still surprising to me that a young mother brought our relative Bronislawa Sanetra to America.